Foggy Landing

Made it to Sydney OK after a fog threatened to divert the plane to Melbourne.  Les was there to greet me and we immediately got stuck in the early morning traffic.  It was a bit cold early doors but soon warmed up and has been a nice day.  Already had a couple of Hahn's in the local pub.  We're off up north tomorrow, another early start, cold weather gear out of the case.  There is no electricity where we are going so you probably won't hear from me until next Saturday!

A Few Photos From Thailand

Here is Coops with his faithful dog Winston.

And here is Mrs Coops

He ain't heavy, he's my Buddha.

A large bee coming in to land at Pollen Central

Where I stayed, House of Coops with Mrs. Coops land in front where she grows rice.

Leaving Thailand

Just grabbing a few minutes online in the airport in Bangkok.  I had an interesting day yesterday and could well have been engaged by now as some women heard there was a foreigner in town. 

Anyway I survived and made the six hour journey back to Bangkok through a couple of storms.  I had a little walk in  to the countryside on my own after I had missed Coops' early morning dog walk, his dog is called Winston.  It was Coops' birthday so a few of his mates came round to celebrate and quite a few Changs were supped.

My next stop is Sydney where I am hoping I get a day rest before the next leg.

Thailand

I'm going to make this short and sweet as I'm on a slow connection looking out over a rice field somewhere in north east Thailand.

I've had a fantastic few days here.  After the hussle and bussle of Bangkok it is very peaceful up here.  Mr and Mrs Coops have been fine hosts and the people around here are very friendly.  The food has been excellent and I've had one too many Chang Classics (beer).  I've taken many photographs but I'm not even going to attempt to upload them now.

Hopefully I will be able to add more details when I reach my brother's house on Friday morning.

Connect 4

After a gruelling God-knows-how-many hours flight I finally landed in Bangkok. 

One thing I noticed on the flight was that even though everyone bar me seemed to be asleep, no one was snoring. 

I think I have found a cure for snoring.  Simply sleep with your upper torso upright or bent slightly to the right.  Make sure there is hardly enough space for your knees; ideally, get someone to sit in a reclining seat in front of you and make sure they they send it as far back as it will go.  Lastly, ensure there is enough bollocks (e.g. flight entertainment brochures, toiletries, headphones, duty-free magazines) stuffed in to the back of the reclining chair.  Hey presto, a quiet's night sleep!

I don't think I have ever had a feeling of instant sweat quite like the one when I stepped out of the airport and in to Thailand's drippingly warm weather.  Obviously I had just met up with Coops as well but I will put the blame on the climate.  I thought Coops was sporting a Hitler moustache but on closer inspection I saw it was a scab.  Apparently, on the previous night, whilst prowling the streets of Bangkok, Coops made a close inspection of the concrete pavement and came off worst; "MY HANKY WAS DRIPPING IN CLARET" he said.  Coops talks like that, he shouts a lot.

Here is the view from my hotel window.  I used a different setting on the camera which enhanced certain colours.

As for my first night in Bangkok, well, I am sat here writing this drivel at 11.43pm local time after spending only about two of the last 36 hours asleep.  The only thing I am going to say about tonight is the eight games of Connect 4 in a bar earlier will be the most unforgettable games of the counter dropping battle of wits I have ever had.

Waiting around in the airport. Looked at my luggage receipt. It say 'Broughton Bangkok'.

The Only Game in Town

Too excited to sleep past six in the morning.  Woke up, checked in online, played 23 games of solitaire and lost every single one of them.

I checked the in-flight movies and surprise, surprise, Qantas are showing Australia (the film with Kidman in).  On the good side, Clash of the Titans is on, I love a good greek myth.

Not Long Now

School is now officially out for summer. 

The predicatable drinking onslaught on the final day after the kiddies had gone home was as messy as ever.  The 'Out of Order' signs I made went down well as plenty of people were definitely out of order on many occasions.  Cookie disappeared somewhere along the line and was then spotted trying to get back in to the Hare and Hounds in Sheen the following morning at 10.30am!  I just happened to be driving past and couldn't resist shouting "Haven't you had enough?".  It is a moment that will live with me forever.  Apparently he was trying to retrieve his lost bag.

After a spending spree yesterday afternoon I feel I am now equipped for anything the Australian and New Zealand winter weather can throw at me.  New jacket, trousers that turn in to shorts at the flip of a zip, warm socks and some new boots.

Confirm - Reconfirm

Work is now only a distraction. As I write there are only two half days to go but my mind is elsewhere. Just received an email from Coops confirming my room at the Ibis Hotel in Bangkok. At first glance I thought that we were sharing the room and there was just one double bed. I thought this may be a sign of the dangers to come but I was relieved to see that the room is mine only. Phew.

As with any major trip there are quite a few things to do before you can relax. I have bought a new suitcase, with wheels. It's good that I have finally caught up on the suitcase wheels thing. Now I too can be one of those annoying people that traipse up the road pulling a suitcase with noisy wheels. One tip I saw about luggage was to tie a ribbon around the handle so that you can spot it straight away at the luggage retrieval area in the airport. What if everyone did that? And what if everyone had a cheapo Dunlop suitcase with wheels from Sports Direct? I'm going to tie a used snot rag around my case handle, no one would touch it then and it would be immediately noticeable as it came around the conveyor belt with the bogies snagging against the belt.

I have bought some books for the trip; some to read, some for information. The two books I have bought to read while hanging around airports or while flying are by Richard Dawkins. So I will be gathering even more reasons to be anti-religion. Strangely enough I have bought his first book 'The Selfish Gene' and also his most recent book 'The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution'.

One thing I had to do as far as flights are concerned was to reconfirm my outward flight to Bangkok. I actually don't get this. I have bought a flight and paid for it and yet if I don't reconfirm with the airline more than 72 hours to go before the flight, my seat may be cancelled. The chances are that it will probably not be cancelled but is seems there is slight chance it could be. OK, I go to the bike shop and order a bike and pay for it. Two days later I go and collect it but the bike shop says "Ah, but you didn't phone us to reconfirm that you want the bike". Anyway, it's done now but I still have to do it again for all subsequent flights.